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What Now for S.C. Democrats?
New Democrats, New Ideas

By Bob Coble, Floyd Nicholson and Phil Noble

On Nov. 7, we South Carolina Democrats were cautiously excited about our chances of winning statewide elections. Unfortunately, eight out of nine statewide offices were won by Republicans, and Democrats held onto only one statewide office, superintendent of education.

South Carolina Democrats nominated strong candidates. They are good and decent people who tried their very best. Most of the races were very close, and had there been more resources, more than one Democrat might have won.

Instead, South Carolina Republicans will continue their control over both chambers of the State House. They hold both of the state’s U.S. Senate seats, four of the state’s six congressional seats and carried South Carolina in every presidential election since 1960 except Jimmy Carter’s.

When Gov. Mark Sanford finishes his term, we will have had Republican governors for 20 of the past 24 years.

We have one-party rule in South Carolina by Republicans just as firmly as we had by Democrats from the 1800s until the 1970s. One-party rule hurt our state then, and it’s hurting us now.

In the past 20 years of Republican domination, we have slowly but surely lost pace with our fellow Southern states and the nation as a whole. In the mid-1980s we were roughly on par with other Southern states in education, job creation, economic growth and income. Since then, we have gradually fallen further and further behind. We all know the results — the nation’s highest school dropout rate, lowest test scores, half of our young workforce not prepared for today’s high-tech jobs, much less tomorrow’s — and the list goes on and on.
With this election’s near-total defeat, even the most yellow of yellow dog Democrats must agree that at the statewide level the Democratic Party of today is simply not a viable alternative for a majority of South Carolina voters.

The Democratic Party now has a unique and rare opportunity to start over — to look ourselves in the mirror and honestly say, “We need real and fundamental change and reform.”
How do we do this? First, look to the successes nationally on Election Day. Democrats ran many nontraditional, moderate candidates, with a clear, aggressive message of ending the corruption of politics as usual in Washington, D.C., and charting a new course in foreign policy … and they won in historic proportions.

The combination of a clear vision and new ideas is the foundation of the Democratic Leadership Council — the New Democrats. The South Carolina DLC was founded by former Gov. Richard Riley. Nationally, DLC values and vision guided the Clinton administration’s policies that gave us unprecedented economic growth and expanded economic opportunity — while demanding that everyone take responsibility for their own lives, work hard and play by the rules.

Where do we find New Democrats in South Carolina? We have a lot of them in business and in local and county-level offices. We have good progressive Democratic mayors in most of our major cities. There are countless good New Democrats on city and county councils, school boards and other local offices all across the state.

Most of all, we need new, bold ideas — the kind of ideas that have a real impact in improving peoples’ lives and preparing them for the future. Ideas like universal 4-year-old kindergarten, a laptop computer for every student, guaranteed access for all to full college funding through community service and scholarships and minimum health insurance for everyone.

New Democrats believe that to improve South Carolina’s lagging economy, we have to invest in the new economy. New technologies like reducing our dependence on foreign oil with alternative fuels and hydrogen fuel cells need to be explored. We need to raise South Carolina’s minimum wage. South Carolina needs to find a way to save our environment without hurting our business climate. The Cool Cities campaign against global warming is an approach many cities across South Carolina have adopted. We need to do this statewide.

All of these ideas are now in place in other states — we should have them here. New Democrats can make it happen.

South Carolina Republicans have proven for 20 years that they won’t or can’t do what is necessary to build a new South Carolina ready for the 21st century. If Democrats have the honesty and courage to reform and renew our party, then and only then will we be able to again win statewide elections and bring the changes that are so desperately needed.
New Democrats stand for a new South Carolina.

Columbia Mayor Bob Coble and Greenwood Mayor Floyd Nicholson are co-chairs of the South Carolina Democratic Leadership Council. Phil Noble is director of the South Carolina Democratic Leadership Council. Visit www.newdemocratssc.com for more information.